First Advisor
Niles Lehman
Date of Award
6-18-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biochemistry and University Honors
Department
Chemistry
Subjects
Life -- Origin, RNA, Autocatalysis, Self-organizing systems
DOI
10.15760/honors.618
Abstract
It is becoming increasingly evident that at some point, very early in the evolutionary history of terrestrial life, a nascent RNA based chemical system emerged and spontaneously self-organized into hierarchically complex network structures. Recently, it has been mathematically predicted that the architecture of this primitive, prebiotic RNA system (or something very similar) could plausibly provide both the infrastructure and the chemical mechanisms necessary to facilitate a transition to the DNA/protein based biochemical processes universally observed in contemporary biological systems. Complex systems give rise to emergent phenomena through the localized interactions of a large number of agents, at varying scales throughout a network. Moreover, these interactions can be classified topologically, from which it becomes possible to gain insight into the seemingly unpredictable behavior of these kinds of systems. Herein, we provide four examples of how the topological artifacts of local interactions between spontaneously self-assembling and self-organizing fragments of the Azoarcus ribozyme can inform both the emergence of decentralized organization and global population dynamics through modulation of kinetic parameters, thereby providing a rudimentary form of selection pressure through which the processes of chemical evolution may occur.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/25463
Recommended Citation
Ramprasad, Sanjay, "Topological Structures Influencing Kinetic Control in Small, Catalytically Closed, RNA Recombinase Systems Emerging from the Spontaneous Self-Organization of Heterogeneous Fragments of the Azoarcus Ribozyme" (2018). University Honors Theses. Paper 607.
https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.618